Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Everybody talks about content.  I think we have a very effective website, built with great keywords, that are found very well in the search engines, thanks to having a webmaster that knows what he`s doing!  But as far as having well written content, I have basically given Roland the information about our product that I wanted written on our site about our product.

If I want to change what is written, how do people that write content work?  I think  that would be valuable information for others to know too. Do you charge for words, time??? I just can`t figure out how you work with someone to get ,what you want to say, written, in what you content writers feel is more effective and better written .

Thanks in advance for enlightening me. :)

Janie

Here is what I do:

I usually charge per page or a flat fee, based on how long it generally takes me. I do this so that if I go nuts and make 20 rewrites, my own head gets to pay for it and not the customer.

If it`s an entire site, I wrap that fee up with the site.

Same message across different formats is usually not charged per piece either, because it`s typically the same copy and idea just reformatted. For example, going from the brochure to a postcard to the site.

I take all the info they have already written about the product (or service).
I talk to the person at length, in their own words, about what is important about their product.
I point out things about the product that may be important, but that they haven`t considered.
And then I write. Sometimes it`s a draft and then I finalize, sometimes there`s back and forth between my draft and the client`s input. And sometimes we test the message a bit before finalizing.


-------------------------

That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions

I could use that information too, as a writer. I`ve never writ content on a freelance basis. Could you charge per word, like....5-cents a word? A typical SEO article is what, 350 words...so that`d be only $17.50. Hmm...kinda inexpensive...maybe 10-cents a word?

Any professional freelance writers out there doing this?

If I had to break it down into per words, my 2 current contracts that have a typical number of words and can be viewed in a per-word manner are between .20 and .40 per word.

Still, then, I judged the average number of words to come up with this figure - they are charged on a flat fee because I have a pattern for writing the content for them. Give or take 200 words - it doesn`t matter to me.

It really depends on the subject matter though. If it requires a lot of research, the price goes up. If I am already immersed in the marketing of the site so the words just flow out, or if the copywriting is wrapped up into the price of the site, the cost per page or cost per word drops significantly. With ongoing contract work, I also look at how much they will get for advertising for the piece I write. If you are writing a piece that will end up on a page which will generate $3,000 a month in ad revenue, paying $100 for your content on that page seems more than reasonable.


-------------------------

That PHP Girl
Small Business Essentials
Latest Post on SUN: New Facebook Pages - First Impressions

Hmm....okay, I`d thought about that too. Not only are there X amount of words (or pages), but the *meaning* of the content has an impact.

I guess it`d be like charging by the note for a piece of music, or symphony score.

I charge a flat fee based on the particular project. I always calculate the cost carefully in advance, before quoting a price, so that I don`t short-change myself.

In other words X amount for article writing...X amount for press releases...X amount for salesletters, etc., etc., etc.

Dale King

 

-------------------------

If you`re tired of all the money-making
hype, lies and scams...read this!
Click here for more details!

Dale,
How do you make the calculation? In other words, do you have a formula where you can sort of "plug in" certain values? I`m thinking of like, a)500 word article, b)includes some (more, lots) research, c)will be free-distributed by client, and things like that?

Recently (6 months ago or so) I hired a writer to help the copy on my site ElusiveTreasures.com. After much discussion about writing style, and what the objectives are, we came to a final price based on a "per page" rate. There must be some flexibility with some aspects to the agreement, but basically our agreement was something like this...

Define a structure and flow to the content that can be somewhat repeated on each page. That mean, we determined the average size (word count) and writing style (point of view, descriptive terms).

I don`t want to reveal the exact price for each page, because depending on what`s being written, the cost could change. But let`s use $25 a page as an example here. You can also view this writing by accessing this Magnolia Branch page. This page was a "template" for all other pages. ...

As an example... I paid $25 per page with an average of 500 words. The first paragraph introduced the category (example - flowers). The second paragraph speaks mainly to the quality of products found at Elusive Treasures. The third paragraph begins to describe the real flower`s origin or location on earth and things of that nature. All following paragraphs try getting into describing the actual item being sold. This cost per page included 2 rewrites. At any point in the process, the writer could quit or I could find another writer.

If you would like to contact the writer for Elusive Treasures, you can find contact information here.


-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Here`s what I`m learning so far: When someone says, "I need some content," they seem to believe that words can be in any order about anything, as long as some of those words somehow apply to something.. In other words, content is just some generic "stuff" that fills in the space between the edges of a page or monitor.

The solution, especially as written by Vincent, is that content varies according to the needs of the material. So a potential client should know certain things before they proceed:

• What general area of human knowledge will this content fall into?
• How long should it be?
• What purpose will the writing fulfill?
• How often will additional or supporting writing be required?
• What level of authority should the writer have on the subject?

As Kathy said, in a conversation we had, it sounds a lot like what a Web developer needs to know before quoting an initial price. People say, "I need a Web site," and expect to get a quote on only that statement.

Is that right?